1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to an apparatus for providing a furniture system that can be readily configured into numerous forms of furniture, for example, free-standing and wall mounted cabinets, desks, open shelves and the like. More particularly, the present invention is related to a furniture system that employs a few repeatable elements that can be combined in a variety of ways to provide different types of furniture that have the appearance of custom furniture.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 C.F.R. Sections 1.97-1.99
Furniture is often designed for a specific purpose and is manufactured and assembled at the factory and is shipped whole. Sometimes furniture is built and assembled on site to custom dimensions and designs, or is cut and partially assembled in a factory or shop, with final construction and assembly on site. Other types of furniture are sold in kits consisting of pre-cut parts that are assembled on site, typically by homeowners. Examples of this type of furniture include computer workstations, television tables, bookcases, and the like. Such kits are typically made from inexpensive press board and have an inexpensive poorly finished appearance that is not nearly as pleasing as factory assembled or custom furniture.
Furniture kits are typically designed to be assembled into one type of piece of a certain size. For example, a television table kit has no parts that could readily be used to make a bookshelf, computer workstation, and so forth.
Furniture kits designed to provide some flexibility in shipping and set-up have been designed. U.S. Pat. No. 3,346,316, issued to Morioka et al. discloses a wall-mounted cabinet kit having a back panel for mounting to a wall, and frame members for holding shelves, and divider panels. Morioka et al. '316, however, can only result in a cabinet of predetermined size. U.S. Pat. No. 3,788,242, issued to Hassell et al. discloses a shelving system in which stub leg members are welded to each shelf and these stub leg members are connected to longer spacer members on site to separate the shelves. This approach saves shipping space, but can only result in shelves, and then, only shelves of predetermined size and spacing. U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,428, issued to Klecki on May 6, 1975 discloses a modular shelf system having metal hollow T-shaped legs with sets of four holes that are engaged by small tangs on shelf-anchoring brackets that secure metal shelves to the legs at user-selected levels. This kit too can only be used to build a single type of furniture, in this case open shelves. Another shelf system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,581, issued to Helman et al. on Apr. 6, 1976. It too can only be used to make open shelves.
These and other types of modular or kit type furniture are typically a sole use kit. The basic structural parts of these kits cannot be used for any other purpose. Time, materials, capital, and labor could be saved if the structural members could be used in other furniture designs without modification. When these kits are assembled, the resulting furniture looks like a kit and does not have the pleasing appearance of custom furniture.
Therefore, there is a need for a modular furniture construction system whose structural members can be used for several different types of furniture without modification; that saves time, materials, capital, and labor; and that has the appearance of custom furniture when assembled.